It was 26 years back at Himalayan Mountaineering Institute
(HMI), Darjeeling, she was then Prime Minister of India and President of HMI.
The occasion was to celebrate Silver Jubilee of HMI on 1st October.
The inaugural function was at the lawn of HMI, there was no public address
system, only one mouthpiece was there for AIR Kurseong for the audio recording of
the event. i was there as an ordinary member of HMI. I had an intention to
record her speech by a record player, the security personnel directed me to
record from the delegates arena. There was a table which was covered with various
prizes and mementos. This was handed over during the event. I took a chance to
place the record player on the table from where she was giving her address.
i prepared a memento made of ‘Khada’ ( a silk scarf) used to
honour the people by the Buddhists. All
the participants of this event had given their autograph on this ‘Khada’ ,
Indira Gandhi took interest to give her autograph, others were Jyoti Basu, then
Chief Minister and T N Singh, Governor of the State of West Bengal, Sir Edmund
Hillary, Peter Hillary, the members of last Indian successful Everest
Expedition of 1965.
This was her last visit to Darjeeling. She was keen on
adventure and Himalayas. I remember her on her centenary year
19th November 2016
